No Strings Attached

Posted By Kathleen David on July 3, 2011

Right now my computer is not very happy but it can’t tell me in the normal way that it is not happy so it is hanging up with the spinning color wheel of death. Yeah, I am a little short on memory but this is really starting to drive me around the bend.

Got most of what I need to get done for Mystery Trekkie Theater done yesterday. Peter cleared out with Caroline giving me the house to myself to just work.

Today is all about the errands that need to be run before I dive into project two. That and some serious laundry.

The Mets bats went to sleep again. Well it was fun while it lasted.

Someone mentioned that if the NFL skips a season, there is always college football to watch. There is college basketball as well. This might work to the colleges’ advantage.

Need to get to the gym today if I have the time. If not, then I’ll get back on track tomorrow. I am trying to get back into the exercise groove.

Now my iPad and my computer are fighting with each other. *sigh*

Not my day for electronics it seems.

Hope that y’all are having better electronic days that I.

Off to start the errands.

I am grateful when my computer works correctly.

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Posted By Kathleen David on July 2, 2011

This will be my 14th Shoreleave. Part of Shoreleave for us is a thing called Mystery Trekkie Theater. If you have ever seen Mystery Science Theater 3000, you have an inkling of what is done. In MST3K (as it is known), they take a terrible movie and have two “robots” and a human commenting on the film. You can see their shadowy outline at the bottom of the screen. It started on local cable and became a bit of a phenomenon.

In our case it is Peter, Bob Greenberger, and Michael Jan Friedman who are the shadowy figures on the screen and various Star Trek and Star Trek related shows that get skewered. There is also an opening sketch which Peter writes every year and then manages to both direct and perform in.

Now the only people who know which episode we are going to do are the three guys and their immediate families and we have been sworn to secrecy.

So yesterday was another next step in the process. The first being getting the time coded tape so we can sync the jokes to the episode. Then we dub that off and get copies to Mike and Bob. Everyone watches the episode at least once and writes up their commentary on it. Then, closer to Shoreleave, Bob, Mike, and Peter get together at one of their houses and create the final script for the whole thing.

This involved putting everyone’s ideas in the pot and seeing which we think is funniest. The process takes a number of hours to do for just a one hour show. Depending on how silly we get, it can take a while to get pass even a few minutes of the episode.

The joke writing skills of the three are a bit different and that works to their advantage.

We do get off on tangents sometimes and have to bring ourselves back to the task at hand. There is also the traditional eating of the pizza for lunch with the usual catching up on things.

And there is the laughter. We have a good time coming up with the script. I did laugh so hard that my sides are a bit ache this morning. It is nice to laugh like that occasionally.

The next steps are taken at the convention and a week from tomorrow (Sunday), they will be presenting it to the convention for their amusement.

Now I just have to get some stuff done for it and get some props together. And that will be most of today I think. We’ll see how fast I can get this together.

I am grateful that we do have fun putting this together.

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Posted By Kathleen David on July 1, 2011

Years ago there was this guy that I knew from the convention circuit. He was a friend of a friend who became a friend. One evening he told me about his idea for a comic book series which sounded really neat. Several years later our paths crossed again and he handed me the first issue of his new comic “Men in Black.” I congratulated my friend Lowell because I knew this was something that he wanted to achieve and did so.

Years later (say about 1996) I am in a movie theater and there is a teaser poster that says “Mr. Smith, Mr. Jones” at the top and “Men in Black” at the bottom. I found out through the grape vine that yes, that was Lowell’s Men in Black being made into a movie. Cool I thought and really enjoyed the heck out of the film which really hit on all cylinders for me.

Last night (2011) I find myself under the FDR drive down at the South Side seaport just off of Catherine’s Slip having a conversation with Mr. Smith about the comic book while they were filming Men in Black 3.

Kind of an odd full circle.

Things that I learned last night

Will is a salt of the earth kind of guy. Both feet on the ground and working hard for what he wants. He is also a good dad.

His kids are just like their father and I am betting their mother as well. Caroline was more than happy to meet Jaden and Willow. I had a nice conversation with Trey and wished him good luck in his next endeavor which I am sure he will succeed at since he has his father’s drive to get things done. I got to ask Jaden a couple of questions about the Karate Kid that I had wondered about. Willow was working out lyrics for a song she was writing which she is very good at.

Barry Sonnenfeld runs a tight but fun ship. Everyone there wanted to do their best for him.

Monitors are so much better than they were over 10 years ago. The digital age has made it much easier to see what you are filming.

Josh Brolin is a really nice guy and a good hugger.

Caroline is going to recognize a part of the film when we see it since she saw them do a number of takes which she thought would be cool.

I am very grateful to the people at Overbrook who made this evening happen.

Behind the cut a few photos from the adventure. Sorry, none of the cool set that they had going because it was a no photo zone. (more…)

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Posted By Kathleen David on June 29, 2011

I had this great web log entry but it was 4AM so I rolled over and went back to sleep with the last thought being ‘I hope I remember this’ and I then had a really odd theater dream and don’t remember what it was at all.

The number of times I have worked out a problem in my head and then lost it to a dream couldn’t be counted. The more vivid the dream, the more chance that the idea will be lost.

Writing it down is not really an option either.

I got stuff done yesterday but I am behind the 8-ball again on one project so, other than going to the gym, that’s my focus today. Tomorrow is all about the cleaning because we are having company Friday. I also need to find an old outfit for the Masquerade.

DragonCon is looming again. I need to go onto the site and finish my entry for the Art Show in the next day or so.

Caroline is doing various things to amuse herself and we have been taking her places to have fun. So far she is enjoying her summer.

I am grateful for Caroline’s interest in learning to sew.

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Posted By Kathleen David on June 28, 2011

This is the part of the project I call ramping up. Where I have to assemble most, if not all, of the pieces I need to complete the set of projects I have in the hopper.

Yesterday Caroline and I went fabric shopping and I found, at a rather good price, my solution to one of the projects. I plan to use it to make as many as possible so that will be one down about a bazillion to go.

So here is what I am hoping to have done by weeks end.

In the HAVE TO category

My 4th of July Swap which has to go to Canada this year and that’s tricky because there is no post. I plan on getting that puppy out later today or tomorrow via UPS.

Then the MUST DO category

Which is the things for the Masquerade sketch and Mystery Trekkie. I plan to take process pictures and then, once we are done, I’ll do a couple of “how I did it posts”.

Then there is everything else that I want to do. The list is long but I have to trim it for DragonCon where I need to get my paperwork in.

Today’s goal is one Fluzzie (soup to nuts) and to cut out the first pattern I need and, if there is time, start sewing on those.

Tomorrow finish project A and then start drafting Project B.

Time management is going to become important over the next two weeks.

Also I am probably going to be talking about things I am creating for the next two weeks.

I am grateful for time that can be managed.

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